The Vampire Diaries: 5 Recurring Characters Who Left Us Underwhelmed

With the influx of new, presumably recurring characters soon coming into The Vampire Diariesfold, we take a look back at the ones who got away. Because, though we’re excited to meet Luke and Maggie, we really hope they don’t go the way of other recurring Vampire Diaries characters who never quite lived up to their potential. Here are the five recurring characters who never had the chance to come into their own.

April Young

We were intrigued by April’s character when she first came onto the scene. Daughter of the pastor who blew a bunch of townspeople up (including herself), and former babysittee of Elena, we couldn’t wait to see how this gal shook things up. But, she really didn’t. Sure, she was frequently used as bait and eventually found out about the vampire population, but never really had any interesting character moments of her own. We’re still holding out hope for April, but it may be too late.

Amara

We’re stretching the definition of a “recurring character” a bit when it comes to Amara, but she was such a presence in Season 5 in the episodes before she showed up, sometimes, it’s easy to forget she was only in three episodes (and one of those was a brief flashback). Amara is a character on this list who suffered from lots of hype and the already-taxed filming schedule of Nina Dobrev. We totally understand why TVD couldn’t add another doppelganger to Nina’s character list, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t suck that we never truly got to hang with this ancient handmaiden. So far...

Aaron Whitmore

Oh, Aaron. A new friend Elena makes at college and a tragic, vampire-victimized history to boot? We really wanted to care about you, but we just couldn’t. Aaron’s reactions were always just a too mopey. He never transformed into an active character. The one interesting thing he did — shooting Damon in the forehead and leaving Elena locked in an Augustine cell — he seemed to feel bad about afterwards. We expected better things from one of the very first Whitmore College characters.

Abby Bennett Wilson

Bonnie’s mom Abby has the potential to be such an interesting and effective character moving forward. A witch-turned-vampire who also happens to be the mother of one of our main characters? Dramatic gold! Plus, Bonnie could use a bit more context for her character, a social network that expands beyond Jeremy, Elena, and Caroline and makes her a more defined character outside of her relationship to her peers. We know that these two have had their fair share of storylines together, but we want more!

Rudy Hopkins

Bonnie’s dad had the chance to be a total Carol Lockwood: a character connected to our protagonists both through his kid, and his role in town politics. Unfortunately, his character came around when The Vampire Diaries had shifted away from examining Mystic Falls as a setting and its local government as having any power. This meant the appearances of Bonnie’s dad always felt contrived or even expository. We have to admit, his death did pack a punch, but it would have been even more gutting if we cared about him as a character.

Are there any recurring characters you wish had been given more development? Sound off in the comments below!

Catch the next episode of The Vampire Diaries on Thursday, February 27 at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.

Kayti Burt is a contributing writer for Wetpaint Entertainment with a penchant for all things pop culture. Follow her on Twitter and Google+!